Aleppo Syrian Forces Blamed For Chlorine Gas Attack

Activists say Syrian government forces dropped two barrel bombs loaded with chlorine gas in a rebel-held area of Aleppo.

Aleppo Syrian forces blamed for chlorine gas attack

A suspected chlorine gas attack on an opposition-held neighbourhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo has caused at least one death and dozens of cases of suffocation, according to local activists and medical sources. A video obtained by Al Jazeera shows what activists say is the aftermath of an attack in the rebel-held al-Sukkari neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo. They say that the Syrian government used a helicopter to drop two barrel bombs loaded with gas on residents, killing at least one person and injuring more than 100. Rescue workers also said that Syrian government helicopters dropped suspected chlorine bombs on the neighbourhood on Tuesday.

The Syrian Civil Defence and the Syrian American Medical Society posted videos and photos on social media showing children doused in water using oxygen masks to breathe. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks daily developments in the Syrian war, said more than 70 people in Sukkari were left choking and needed treatment after the dropping of barrel bombs by Syrian government helicopters.

Activists on the ground are saying that victims that were rushed to the hospitals are experiencing breathing difficulties,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the Turkish city of Gaziantep near the Syria-Turkey border, said. They say that symptoms are the same that they have experienced in the past and this led them to believe that this is a chlorine gas attack.” The opposition Aleppo Media Centre also charged on its Twitter account that Sukkari was the target of a chlorine attack.